It is indeed great if you have chosen to take the plunge to hire a virtual assistant for all those mundane tasks. Undoubtedly, hiring a virtual assistant is cost-efficient and will save you from huge operational charges.
Now, if you are hiring virtual assistants for the first time, you may be getting overwhelmed with thoughts as to how to go about it. Well, the process of hiring remains the same — posting about the job description, screening applications, interviewing individual candidates, and finally onboarding them. Here, what is crucial is how you measure the qualities of the candidate while you interview them.
It is always advisable to draw a list of parameters based on which you would assess your onboarding virtual assistants.
Here, we would help you with a few of the qualities that you can look for while trying to screen virtual assistants for all your piled up time-taking tasks.
Great at Communication
Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
This is one of the fundamental qualities that every profession requires. Apart from updating and responding to you, your virtual assistant needs to communicate well.
A VA who is not affluent with communication can create misunderstanding, delay, and financial loss.
Should be Motivated
While you interview, try to assess if your VA is optimistic and motivated. There could be end number of distractions that might hamper the work, but ask your VA if they get distracted easily and what do they do to stay motivated towards their deadlines.
It’s important to assess if your VA can still work when tired or not in a great mood to work.
Well-Organized
Ask your VA how much importance they give to being organized. This is essential because when you need them to send a document they sent a few weeks ago, they should be able to find the documents without crashing their computer.
An organized virtual assistant can prevent you from last moment anxieties as they keep everything well-organized and ready!
Spontaneous at follow-ups
If your virtual assistant needs approval from you on a social media post that they designed and don’t hear back after 2-3 days, they should take accountability and follow up through email or phone call as a reminder.
Similarly, sometimes things get skipped from the client’s end but your VA should possess the know-how to reach and follow rather than sitting with the task forever.
Good at Time Management
Virtual assistants have a lot of work on their plate and thus they must be good at time management. They need to be able to juggle between several tasks and ensure they are completed timely.
Look for someone who is punctual and knows how to utilize time smartly.
Attentive to details
Every human makes little mistakes here and there but when you hire someone attentive to details, you need not go back and check the work repetitively.
Check if they are accurate with details through some assignments and business mails. It would be a great addition if you find someone who goes the extra mile to make sure that everything is sorted and correct!
A Multi-tasker
It’s an added advantage if your virtual assistant is good at multi-tasking. During the interview evaluate if your prospect VA is a multi-tasker. The ability of your virtual assistant to schedule meetings, handle clients, and organize tasks altogether, will keep the projects and the company moving — efficiently!
Resourceful
While hiring a VA, look for someone resourceful. Someone, who can overcome problems with innovation and creativity. A resourceful virtual assistant will not bother you with obvious questions and will try to find out the answers on their own.
Out of all the qualities, resourcefulness is a must. A VA with such qualities meets with problems head-on, solves them, and keeps the information at bay.
Someone ‘Honest’
While you screen your virtual assistants, ask them to demonstrate the importance of honesty in their life.
VAs perform tasks that may require handling sensitive and confidential information. This may include anything from your email to your software credentials and thus it is important to assess their honesty. It is important to be completely sure before you onboard them for tasks that have confidential data.
Responsive
While you interview several candidates, gauge how responsive they are. The best one for you would be the one who is quick to respond to e-mails and queries. This ‘spontaneous’ quality is highly beneficial if you have a last-minute change.
You cannot expect your virtual assistant to reply at any time, but overall responsiveness is a great quality to look for.
Can Work Under Pressure
Work and business do get chaotic at times and as a business owner, you never want your client to notice what goes behind the scenes. Your virtual assistant should have the same ‘calm’ that can help the work and professional relationship stay unaffected in a situation of crisis. Your VA should be comfortable to work under pressure without passing on any stress or negativity to the client.
Reliable
Though you are hiring a VA to handle the mundane chores, those mundane tasks are also important. While you screen your virtual assistant, do not forget to look for someone reliable. Hiring someone reliable would mean that you need not worry about time and accuracy. If you do not get anyone reliable, chances are that you might have to do extra work.
The VA with the right qualities will help your business grow!
Hiring a virtual assistant can be a daunting task but all that jazz is worth it when you find the virtual assistants who possess all the qualities you are looking for. They not just make your life easy and efficient but contribute heavily to the growth of your business.
It is always ideal to jot down a few parameters based on which you judge the Virtual Assistant giving the interview.
Author Bio:
Rangoli Roy works as a content specialist for a BPO company based in India named Acelerar Technologies. In her free time, she loves to express her creativity through poetry and art. You can find her spreading positivity through her art on her Instagram Blog called ‘thepoetesswithblackbindi’.
